Metamorphosis: Whitworth Summer Program for Gifted Children

Who am I? What are my specific gifts and talents? What can I know about my place in the world? At Camp Metamorphosis, gifted youth find many answers to these questions while exploring interesting academic areas, such as:

• Art : Past Expressions for Today's Aspiring Artists
• Cartooning and Animation
• Playing with the Principles of Physics in Everyday Life
• Chemistry Rocks!
• Geometric Space Explorations
• Artifact Sleuthing
• Creative Writing: Imagine it? Now Write it!

Each participant will select three of the following session strands to focus on for the entire week.

• Art Expression: Exploring Influential Artists
  Examine influential artists and their techniques. Participants will learn about an artist and how to apply his or her technique, method and materials to create their own original artwork. A variety of artistic mediums will be explored.
  
  
• Cartooning and Animation
  Come and build character, as in cartoon characters! The fundamentals of drawing will lead you into creating original characters. Learn how to use humorous language, to create captions and to give your characters voices. Bring your stories and characters to life by incorporating animation and sound.
  
  
• Physics: Playing with its Principles in Everyday Life
  How do the basic principles of physics help you to navigate in your everyday life? You will apply classical methods of motion, energy, force, optics, acoustics and others as well as some of the newer innovations in quantum physics to discover wonders in the world around you.
  
  
• Chemistry
  Get ready to discover the wonderful world of chemistry. Learn about interesting materials that you use every day and the chemistry that makes them work. Participants will learn about polymers, nanotechnology and crystals while making slime, rock candy, and more!
  
  
• Geometric Explorations
  Geometry is all around us in every part of our environment. Explore the application of geometry in nature and creating spaces.
  
  
• Artifact Box
  Put your sleuthing hat on for the artifact box challenge! Participants will analyze a set of clues and focus on determining the location of an artifact in the world. Once the mystery is solved, participants will create their own artifact-box-mystery clues to share with another group of students.
  
  
• Creative Writing
  Participants will engage in writing stories, poetry, and/or plays, as well as in simply reading for pleasure. Participants will develop their writing skills as they work with the teacher and each other to foster the joy of writing, the captivation of language, and the confidence of publishing creative works.

Each of us has unique gifts. There is no one just like us. Through some fun and informative "tests," you will learn or confirm some of your attitudes and feelings, as well as your social, creative, thinking, and learning styles. The texts include "Your Superpowers," "How Many Personas Do You Have?," "What is Your Communication Style?," "What is Your Creative Quotient?," "How's Your Memory?," and "What is Your Learning Style?"

We will also do exercises that help you to figure out others. Some of these may include "Can One Negative Word Change an Opinion?," "Are People More Logical or Emotional?," "What are People's Attitudes about Money?," "How Much Personal Space Do People Need?," "What Do the Words People Use Reveal about Their Personalities?," "Is One Way of Communicating Better than Another?," "Do Boys and Girls See Things Differently?," "Does Competition Improve Performance?," and "Can We Shape Others' Behaviors?"

The day will end with a five-minute silent reflection on your day, followed by a closing conversation circle to share some of your experiences/reflections and expectations for the next day or for the week.